Touch
by Nari-sama
Summary: Neji and Hinata are orphans sent to a orphanage for people with special needs. Neji trikes up an unlikely friendship with roommate Haku but finds himself interested in Shikamaru as he gets sucked into the weird, paranoid and insane world of the others
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Do Not Own...such a pain...It wouldn't focus on Naruto that's for sure if I did

**Touch  
**Chapter 1 Isolation

You judged me by my name  
And thought I was the same  
If only they knew the life I've had to live  
The secrets I've hid  
Deep inside my mind even From myself  
The scars underneath my sleeves  
No one seems to understand or want to believe  
It's a common misconception  
That I can handle anything that comes my way  
Are they listening to anything I say?  
And now they wonder why I'm like I am  
They never even looked at the path by which I came  
They misread that we were all the same  
Sadness is not the hardest part to live with  
It's the shame

_When people find out you're an orphan there is always one or more of three kinds of reactions people will show after you tell them... those are the three kinds of people Neji has learnt to loath the most in the world in his 15 years of living. _

_He could feel the stares...of pity and sympathy...he hated them ...they were all alike the social workers, in the end everyone Neji had met over the past year since his uncle had been murdered were all the same just mindless faces with pitying sorry looks some even backed away as if the very fact that both his uncle and his father before him had been murdered proved he had some contagious virus that makes anyone who became close to Neji die. _

"Now Neji-chan have you and Hinata-chan finished packing?" The middle aged woman asked in a chipper voice, he just nodded and glared down at his brown canvas bag sitting on the ground "Good! Very Good Neji-chan"

_Oh he hated them...but the others he hated even more, the people like the woman as he called her who were condescending and thought that just because you were an orphan you were not educated in anyway ...those were the kind he detested the most of all. _

Hinata stood slightly behind him trying to hide herself from the lady, with one hand clasping onto her older cousin's and the other held up to her mouth biting down on her already short nails from nervousness, as if to give the shy fourteen year old girl a reason not to talk.

"Ok kids then I guess it's time to leave!" The older woman said loudly patting Neji on the head which earned her a stern glare after which her hand was immediately removed and he quickly brushed his long brunette hair back out of his eyes "I'll go get the taxi shall I" she announced walking briskly from the small apartment Hyuuga teens had shared with her as a temporary foster children.

Neji looked behind him at Hinata and gave her a reassuring smile, well it was as close to a smile anyone would get from him, "It'll be ok we'll be with people like us..." he told his cousin.

"Wh...at... if we...get s...s..ent to a ...um...pla..c..ce like... Hanabi-imoutosan?" she asked through her bad stutter looking up from her feet briefly.

"It won't be like that Hinata-sama I promise and we'll be together...Hanabi-sama tried to hurt people that's why they put her there..." he told her picking up their bags "In the end we're the only ones we can trust no one else is going to care for us or looked out for us...that is our fate".

**&**

After an hour and three stops the train finally stopped at the station on the outskirts of Yokohama. The three walked the block or so and rounded onto what looked like an old 6 floor apartment building in the middle class area of town, the from the outside it seemed quite run down with the rusted bars over the windows and graffiti covering it's worn red brick walls up to the second floor. Their foster mother pulled their three heavy bags from the boot of the car and walked them up to the double doors to the buildings atrium.

"So this is goodbye" she said slowly "I would say I'm sad to see you two leave but that would be lying I'll just say it was ok you two have been the best foster kids I've ever had...for once I don't have any damages to pay for..." unexpectedly she pulled Neji and Hinata into a crushing hug "That's all I ask for".

"Ok Miyamoto-san could...you...let go...it's starting to hurt" Neji gasped cringing at the physical contact.

"Oh...sorry Neji- chan I forgot" she apologized handing over the bags "So goodbye".

"Yeah bye" Neji said turning his back to the woman. The inside of the complex was fortunately a lot better than the exterior the reception area was clean and reasonably modern looking. He rang the bell at the empty desk "Is anyone here?" he called out ringing the bell again a scowl on his face, he was starting to become annoyed...patience had never been his strength.

Finally a black haired woman came running "Ok ok...I'm coming" she called out from the behind a group of filing cabinets. As she sat down at the front desk "...I'm Shizune...what...are...you here...for?" she asked gasping as she tried to get her breath back.

"Our foster parent just dropped us off I'm Hyuuga Neji and this is my cousin Hyuuga Hinata" he informed her.

"Oh...Yes the Hyuuga's" she said remembering what was happening that day and punched numbers into her phone "Hello yes Kakashi-san can you come down...now...yes...now" Shizune spoke into the receiver sternly getting more and more irritated "Kakashi-san is going to down here in a second so could you wait over there" she said pointing to the chairs lined against the wall.

The two were left waiting for half an hour until the silver haired man came strolling down the stairs leisurely with his nose in a bright orange book.

"Yo..." he greeted the bottom half of his face covered "So you're the Hyuuga kids...well come on I'll take you two up to meet to rest" he motioned for them to follow him to the elevator. At this point Neji would've sweat dropped if he could and thought 'That bastard he made us wait just so he could read his damn book' with his left eye slightly twitching.

The three of them rode the elevator up to the fourth floor in silence, Hinata still clutching to Neji for support.

&

Let's say the tour wasn't very much even by Kakashi's standards as soon as they got out of the lift he delegated his responsibilities to two of brunette girl and a short red haired boy about their age and walked off to go finish his book.

"Hi I'm Tenten" the first girl said blushing "and this is Gaara, what's your name?" pointing to the red haired boy behind her.

"This is my cousin Hinata - sama and my name is Neji..." he answered her flatly.

"It's ni...c...ce... to meet ...you Tenten-s..s..an" Hinata greeted politely and bowed to her making the rolled up sleeves of her oversized white jumper fall down over her hands again.

Gaara scowled and said "Let's get this over with..." crossing his arms.

"What is this place anyway I thought it was an orphanage?" Neji asked earning him a glare from the red head.

"The Yokohama Youth Rehabilitation Centre is an orphanage but it only takes children and teenagers with a physical or mental disability that that needs special care" she rattled off like a prepared statement which she had remembered by heart "Now these are the bathrooms, remember to early cue if you actually want to get to school on time" she advised him moving downstairs a level "This is our oh so glamorous library and games room..." the room was anything but glamorous with four large book selves lined up in a row against the back wall and a few outdated computers sat on tables in the middle of the room, in one corner there were a small group of six year olds playing board games with a 30 year old woman in a low cut dress "Kurenai-sensei!" Tenten called out to her.

"Yeah Tenten what is it?" the woman asked flipping her long auburn hair out of her face.

"Kurenai- sensei Neji and Hinata are new here so we're showing him around, Hinata-chan, Neji- san this is Kurenai-sensei she does counseling here and teaches art" Tenten exclaimed punching the air.

"I heard from Kakashi that you'd arrived...I hope you like it here I heard you just over came from Yokosuka" she said smiling softly towards him "If you need anything ask me when Kakashi isn't around which is most of the time, my office is on the second floor ok, I'm sorry guys but I really need to get back to work..." Kurenai edged away from the group slowly going back to the smaller children.

"OKAY BACK TO THE TOP!" Tenten yelled jumping up and down.

"Tenten!" Gaara said, speaking for the first time during the 'tour' "Just! Shut! The! Fuck! Up!" he emphasized each word to make sure she got the message "You're worse than Lee!" and crossed his arms again, glowering in the cousins' direction but not at him and told the Neji "Your rooms are upstairs...Jumper girl...you're with the skinny blonde bitch...emo boy you've got the big blacked out one with heavy curtains..."Gaara shook his head and left but not before muttering "_and they call me psycho.._.".

**&**

Neji searched around the top floor it wasn't that hard really there were only eight rooms and two were empty.

The second of the larger rooms was very dark for one in the afternoon, he guessed this was it, and took Neji's eyes some time to adjust to the lack of light. In the dim light he could make out four seemingly empty beds with hospital curtains partially encircling all but one of them which had them closed, each had a dresser sitting next to them and a small cupboard at the foot of them.

He couldn't understand why this room was so dark in the middle of the day when all the other bedrooms he'd briefly seen were bright and well lit.

Neji walked over to the other end of the room over towards the thick heavy black curtains covering the two small barred windows, setting his bag down on the cupboard at the foot of his bed, and pulled them apart to have a blinding jet of sunlight shine directly into his white eyes. Suddenly he turned around; a large hissing sound like an angry cat was being made from behind the thin green curtain to his far right.

"WOULD YOU FUCKING CLOSE THE CURTAINS SOME OF US HAVE LIGHT SENSITIVITY BITCHES!" someone yelled from behind it and the screen quickly flung open to reveal a black haired teenage boy about the same age as Neji "I told you close the damn curtains you moron" he repeated but Neji just stood there "Ok be like that bitches...now it's ok Shadow" the boy called to a thin black cat that was lying on his bed meowing and pulled the black blanket over the animal as if it as well was getting hurt by the light; grabbing a long white cane that lent against his dresser.

'No wonder he's not looking in my direction...' Neji thought 'he's blind'

"Are you just going to stand there...are you deaf or something?" the other boy asked sighing.

"You're blind..." Neji finally said sounding very stupid.

"Nooo I wear sunglasses indoors because I feel like what do you think moron!" he replied sarcastically and pulled the curtains closed "Why am I surrounded by idiots?" he asked himself shaking his head "You're new here so I'll let you off this time but if you ever open those curtains again I will kick your ass got that?" he threatened and went back to bed where he picked up the book which he'd been previously reading.

"Ok..." Neji said slowly and thought 'So...I guess that's Shikamaru' he raised an eyebrow and he lied down on the bed next to him 'this place is going to be quite interesting'.


	2. Nice is Such a Relative Term

Disclaimer: If only I owned Naruto...screw ninja's every episode would probably end up an AU lol it'd be worse than Excel Saga.

**Touch  
**Chapter 2 Nice is Such a Relative Term

Shadows cover your face  
Dark smoke emitting from your bleeding soul  
Loneliness seems to lace  
Your fake cheerful smile  
Walking down the streets you seem to lean to one side  
As you let your legs take control  
Your eyes are closed  
And you don't even care where they're taking you

Neji awoke suddenly, after such a long journey he'd fallen asleep after laying down on the comfortable bed, he hadn't meant to drift off like that and now it felt like sauna in his thick clothes with sweat pouring from his pale skin making them stick to him.

Hot blood pumped down into his extremities like they always did when he felt warm and lying on the bed felt like being on hot coals, quickly he began to strip off his dark blue jacket, black shirt and anything else he thought would cool him down by removing them leaving only his white shinglet and black pants.

"Hey don't mind me just continue stripping in public I need some entertainment" Neji heard a slightly feminine sounding voice behind him say; he turned to see a what appeared to be boy about 17 years old which long brunette hair standing in the door way.

"And you are?" Neji asked a little coldly, his mind still foggy after just waking up...he never had been much of a morning person. He wondered why his eyes were hurting when he realized the lights had been switched on filling the previously blackened room with a flood of artificial light.

The boy noticed Neji peering over towards Shikamaru's bed "My name's Kirino Haku, oh don't worry about him it's only natural light that's 'troublesome' to him speaking of Shika he might be blind but Gaara and I aren't so if you're going to be stripping on regular basis you would want to use the curtain" Haku said sighing " anyway it's dinner time so do you two coming?"

"Why are you people being so noisy?" Shikamaru asked sitting up on the bed.

"Because there's food now come on!" Haku said jumping up and down.

Shikamaru scowled "Ok does anyone know where the Haku we all know and love is and who replaced him with this Naruto clone?" he questioned rubbing his forehead.

"Who's Naruto?" Neji asked Haku following the older boy out of their room.

"You'll know when you see him!" Haku whispered squeamishly "get ready here he comes..."

Neji looked at his room mate puzzled and said "...Get ready for what?" before he felt something or someone spear tackled him into the ground.

"Urgh meet Naruto one part fan girl two parts ramen addicted freak unfortunately all parts idiot..." Haku said smiling to the nearly concussed Neji who was lying on the floor holding his stomach and head in pain.

"NARUTO HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO GLOMP PEOPLE BAKA YAROU" a high pitched female voice screeched at the blonde.

"Ehhhhh I sorry Sakura-chan ehehe" Naruto laughed nervously as a pink haired girl stormed over towards the group.

"Naruto!" Sakura growled "_What should we do with you?_ burn him at the stake _No _I agree he deserves worse! _but Kakashi-sensei did say no hurting people anymore _Ok..." she seemed to have stopped her monologue and turned back to Naruto who was shaking in fear "Naruto your punishment for this indiscretion will be...No Ramen For Two Days!" she announced with a sadistic smile before appearing calm.

"Hi" she said nicely to Neji "I'm Haruno Sakura nice to meet you" she smiled cheerfully shaking his hand politely only to pull him in close to her whispering in his ear "do NOT mess with me if you do you will disappear got that!" he nodded silently a little perturbed "Good! Then I'll see you at dinner bye" she leaned back appearing nice and polite again before leaving.

Mean while Naruto was quivering in corner crying over all the ramen he wouldn't be able to eat "Ramen...why...Sakura-schan must you be so cruel! I was only trying to be friendly..." he sobbed.

"Ok now that was weird..." Neji mentioned

"She has schizophrenia and DPD don't worry she never backs up her threats, the one's you really have to watch out for are Sasuke-san and Gaara-kun... occasionally Lee as well he's weird like that" Haku explained smirking but Neji still looked worried "You aren't afraid of someone with pink hair are you Neji-_chan_? Ne?"

"Why does everyone have to be goddamn insane?" Neji exclaimed and hang his head sighing.

"Oh you think we're insane just wait till you meet the rest of staff" he joked patting Neji on the back in sympathy.

"Why do I have a sudden sense of foreboding?..." Neji asked himself.

"Why am I surrounded by idiots" Shikamaru muttered under his breath as he pasted them already reading a new novel.


	3. Connection

Disclaimer: Shippuden turned Shika Emo...maybe some of my telepathy is working lol...unfortunately it didn't work so well with Sasuke...I don't own Naruto, I just know how to ruin it for everyone else...hehehe

**Touch  
**Chapter 3 Connection

Sinking deeper into these blinding shadows  
There is no fire left in my eyes  
All the friends I had, have left  
Why can't they stop invading my dreams?

In this lonely misery it seems  
I'm talking to myself again  
And nobodies listening

The meal was a good change from his foster mother's chemistry experiments he had put up with the last year, it wasn't the expensive three course dinners that he'd had when his Uncle was alive but at least it was edible.

Haku looked at Neji awkwardly "You're actually enjoying it..." he said.

"Yes my foster mother's cooking was like chemistry experiments...one she put Hinata in the hospital with food poisoning after she made pancakes..." Neji replied disdainfully.

"Yeah I guess even Deidara's cooking's better than that" Haku admitted cringing at the thought and leaned in close whispering "Your cousin's blushing hmn?"

Neji looked over at Hinata on the other side of the table; she hadn't touched her food at all and her face was bright red.

"Hey Hinata-chan you alright, why's your face all red you sick or something?" Naruto asked putting down his bowl of ramen for once...he'd managed to secure his favourite dish once again by offering Sakura photo's of Sasuke in the shower...how he got them he would never say even under pains of torture.

"Anou..." Hinata mumbled with her fingers in front of her mouth.

"I see what you mean...she always does that" Neji answered sighing "She has horrible taste in guys..."

"Eh...Naruto wouldn't know if his ass was on fire...let alone if someone liked him, damn ramen addict..." Haku said holding his bowl near his mouth drinking the strong tasting soup it contained.

"So what's wrong with you people that you all had to come here?" Neji asked looking around at the other people from their floor that had arrived at the table for dinner.

"Well everyone here is segregated based on their disorders...easier for the administrators to deal with us that way I guess... like our room is only for boys with sensitivities such as I've got severe allergies whilst Gaara's a hemophiliac and Shika is sensitive to sun light, then you've got Shino who's deaf and Sasuke's selectively mute and Chouji he's paraplegic; they share a room."

"How many people are actually on this floor?" Neji questioned worriedly wondering if there would actually be time with the staff if either him or Hinata-sama actually needed anything.

"There's 12 now let me remember anou...Lee...and Naruto are together well not like that...Naruto has short term memory problems and Lee's a crack baby" He trailed off "...Ino, she has anemia so Hinata will probably be roomed with her...Tenten has OCD, as I said Sakura is schizophrenic and finally there is Kankuro I don't know what's technically wrong with him but he's the only one of us that has a private room...er I wouldn't really want to say anything about him with Gaara around" Haku put his index finger to his lips and inclined his head.

"I thought she was a nut job...so what's happening tomorrow?" Neji said setting aside his chopsticks on their stand next to his plate.

"Well if the staff agree you'll be allowed to attend normal school if not you'll be stuck here getting taught by the one and only Kakashi-sensei" Haku informed him looking very distrought and latched onto to Neji's arm whispering in fake panic "Get out ...get out of here while you still can!"

"Eh! Get off me you freak!" He warned trying to shake Haku off him.

"Ok ok I'll be serious! Just be careful I'm warning there are countless people at that school who'll try to take advantage of you if they know you're from here" Haku mentioned releasing his grasp of Neji.

"Why?"

"They're bastards...most of us here look like gaijin and the Sound crew... you don't want to know what they did to Shika" Haku continued and shook his head "I was lucky that Zabuza-sensei is there"

Suddenly they heard plates smashing and something hitting the ground with a thud.

Neji looked over and sweat dropped...Hinata was lying on the floor having fainted and Sakura had punched Naruto in the wall leaving him with half his face a vivid shade of purple .

"What happened?" Neji asked the person next to him.

"How the hell am I meant to know?" Shikamaru retorted stretched out in the seat on Neji's right-hand side.

Neji jumped back a little and thought 'When the hell did he get there'.

"You really should pay attention to those around you if you're going to be talking about such personal things in public...isn't that right Shadow?..." the blind teen reminded him patting the black cat that was lying asleep in his lap.

"Naruto was being an idiot that's what happened" Gaara stated in the seat on the right of Shikamaru.

"He's blond, what do you expect?...Ino's just as annoying sometimes" Shikamaru said sighing.

"Naruto's always an idiot!" Kankuro blurted out.

"See even Kankuro agrees" Haku joked only to receive a death glare from the redhead.


	4. Interrogation Techniques

Disclaimer: No I don't own it...if I did well...dude Sasuke is so Shikamaru's long lost twin brother...lol

**Touch  
**Chapter 4 Interrogation Techniques

Why do I keep searching?  
It's a question I've always asked myself  
I needed something to occupy my time  
To keep a hold on the last of my sanity  
Nothing means anything anymore  
Except to try and save it  
I refuse to loose and stumble in the dark

Stop asking so much of me all the time  
I'm too tired to answer you anymore  
It means nothing to me now  
All the memories were forgotten long ago  
Though I can't say forgiven

It our choices that decide our destiny  
Stop saying everything is already decided  
Nothing is over til you say it's over  
So someone lift me up please  
I feel so old, my mind is so weary  
With the pressure placed on my shoulders  
To do so well

It never ends  
This feeling of failure  
Ever searching for perfection  
It's driving me crazy  
I can always see there's a light  
At the end of this dark tunnel  
That doesn't mean I'll survive  
And before I know it I'm losing it

The deeper I dig the more I get buried  
Why is it I have to drown before I can swim?  
Leave before this heartache turns to anger  
Touch the fire and see if you don't get burned  
Because when I'm involved  
There's always a black cloud overhead

That night Neji couldn't sleep he didn't know whether it was from sleeping earlier or trying to suppress memories of Sakura...most likely the latter...

"Ehhhh..." He moaned waking up again "cold..." he mumbled and pulled his quilt tighter around himself.

"Shhhh...it's ok..." someone whispered beyond the curtains, obviously not wanting to be heard.

"Heh..." Neji questioned half asleep and got out of his bed with the quilt still wrapped around him and peered through his curtains into the inky blackness that was their room to see a small glow coming from Gaara's section of the room 'Why would any normal person be up at this hour?' he thought looking at his digital alarm clock, the glowing numbers 2:00 AM plastered across the demonic battery-powered device's face like glowing red eyes...or was that Neji just being paranoid...

As quietly as any half asleep person could (_Zombie)_Neji crawled rather than walked the short expanse to where Gaara was obviously awake.

"Urgh..." He mumbled "What're you doing?" he asked pulling Gaara's curtains apart.

Kankuro lay asleep curled up by his younger brother's side, Gaara's hand lay on top of his head his pale fingers running through the brunette's spiky hair. The crimson haired teen sat upright in his bed his legs crossed underneath him with a laptop resting on his knees and headphones covered his ears.

"You should be asleep Hyuuga" Gaara stated not looking up from the computer screen "You have school tomorrow".

"Why arn't you then?" Neji asked tiredly stumbling over to sit on the edge of Gaara's bed.

"I have insomnia you moron..." he said glaring at him as Kankuro started to stir, mumbling in his sleep.

"Sorry...what are you looking at?" Neji sighed leaning over to have a look, he wouldn't get back to sleep for another hour anyway.

"None of your business!" the red haired boy growled trying to stop the brunette from getting a better look...only to make Neji even more curious in his semi-conscious state.

"Is that Kankuro? Who's the blonde girl?" he continued inwardly smirking at how riled Gaara was becoming.

"Yes and it's none of your fucking business you bastard...now look what you fucking did moron" Gaara said sending him a firey death glare that would probably would have turned Neji into a quivering puddle of goo if he'd been fully aware of what the hell he was actually doing at the time.

"Gaa-kun..." Kankuro whispered opening his green eyes slightly causing Gaara to snap close the laptop in case his older brother saw what was on the screen.

"Time to go to your own room nii-chan" Gaara told him pulling him up into a sitting postion on the narrow bed that really wasn't made for two people at once.

"...Do I have to..." he mumbled swinging his legs over the side.

"Yes...if you're good I'll let you play with the puppets tomorrow okay" Gaara propositioned him pulling Kankuro's arm over his lender shoulder "If you don't go to bed and sleep now you'll make Aniki very upset right..."

"...Okay I don't want Temari-onee-san to be angry her fan hurts..." Kankuro agreed stumbling along with his younger brother back to his own room.

A few minutes later once the two were out of the room Neji heard movement again.

"You know people don't have to tell you about themselves if they don't want to" Shikamaru said staring unseeing out the window towards the bright white moon his head resting in his hand and his elbow leaning on his knee.

"I wasn't asking about him" Neji stated confusedly walking back towards his own bed.

"You were, even if you don't know it...you ask about Kankuro you're automatically asking about Gaara that's how it works" he declared warningly, his black hair falling in his face and over his shoulders now that it was free from its tie.

"You were listening the whole time?" Neji asked furrowing his brows.

"Well being blind I have no idea when I'm really sleeping with Charles Bonnet Syndrome and all...really if you want to get along with people here stop asking such personal questions you'll need all the friends you can get in this place once school starts" Shikamaru explained going back to his bed and started stroking Shadow's head.


	5. Black Market Fantasy

Thanks for the review iceyxstrawberry I'm glad atleast one person enjoys it lol anyway I hope what I said earlier explained Neji a little better for you.

Well anyway I just love Shika in this chapter lol he's such a smart arse :)

**Disclaimer: No...still no change from the previous chapters T.T **

**Touch**  
Chapter 5 Black Market Fantasy

Keep your feet upon the ground  
Stop covering up your self doubt  
Nothing's wrong  
That I can see  
So come on  
What's going on?  
We have no connection  
Anymore  
Your head's in the clouds  
And I don't see you coming down  
You're so above me now  
Or at least you think so  
You think you know more than you actually do  
Flying up  
You left be sinking in the shifting sands  
Staring down you smile at me  
As if happy to get away  
I wonder what would happen  
If I would follow you to the heavens above  
As I stand alone sadly  
Crying into the sands I bury myself in  
No, my fragile wings were clipped long ago

Neji woke up three hours later with a start, the shrill beeping of someones alarm clock shattering the peace of the early morning. Bleary eyed Neji slowly sat up in bed rubbing his pale face tiredly 'No wonder Gaara's a damn insomniac...being here is like having jet lag...urgh' he thought pushing his unsteady legs over the edge of the bed where he sat for a few minutes just waiting for his blood pressure to elevate a bit before he started his morning routine.

Suddenly he heard the door slide open and someone pad almost soundlessly through their room followed by the soft creak of the bed next to his. Slowly he pulled his curtain open the barest amount, to Neji's utmost embarrassment, to see Shikamaru sitting on his own bed with a white robe covering his slouching shoulders and a towel secured firmly around his thin waist freshly out of the shower...the image would've made Neji blush badly if he wasn't busy mentally laughing at how much of a girl Shikamaru looked like with his hair down.

"You know...in some cultures it's considered rude to stare" he said boredly running his fingers through his damp black hair.

Neji sighed 'what is this guy psychic or something, even I wouldn't know if someone was there' he thought.

"I'm not psychic you just make a hell of a lot of noise" Shikamaru explained and Neji started to freak out a little...on the inside of course.

"I wasn't staring" Neji simply stated raising a eyebrow "Why would I want to stare at you anyway I was just curious who else would be up at this time of day"

"Troublesome...you know if you're going to try to use such an emotionless voice maybe you should put in some more practice" he sighed and covered his mouth to block his yawn "Sasuke's perfect at that sort of thing...though he is selectively mute so it kinda works"

"Why are you up anyway?" he asked completely ignoring the younger boy's comment.

"Urgh...you really can't guess can you...I'm surrounded by morons" Shikamaru answered rubbing his forehead "I'm blind I can't tell night from day idiot...I can't come in contact with sunlight therefore no melatonin to tell me when I'm tired you get it now girly boy" he laid back on the squeaky mattress pulling his robe tighter around his pale chest.

"Oh...hey I'm not girly!" Neji hissed in indignation, unconsciously stroking his long brunette hair.

"Yep...just keep on telling yourself that maybe someday..." yawn "you'll believe it...oh god now I sound like Naruto-baka" he said too tired to continue the already too long conversation...it was too troublesome so early in the morning.

&

By the time everyone else started to stumble out of their rooms still half asleep and in varying crumpled states of night clothes at 6:30 am it was breakfast time and Neji had already showered and dressed sitting at the table.

"Hey Neji-kun" Haku greeted him cheerfully still in his chocolate brown shinglet and aqua pajama pants, his long brown hair in disaray hanging half way down his back instead of the neat controlled knot he'd had it in the night before.

"Good morning Kirino-san" he replied picking himself and Hinata something that looked edible to eat.

"Your so formal Neji-kun...hmmm call me Haku" the older teen ordered him "Kirino-san makes me feel so old I'm only 16 years old" Haku covered his mouth trying not to laugh.

"Okay...Haku-sempai" Neji tried "You're a year older than me does that mean you go to high school?"

"Kind of, the local school is combined so the juniour high is in the same campus as the high school I guess it's a good idea I mean you can just stay in the same school from year 7 up" Haku clarified.

"Neji-niisan...anou...Ka..kashi-sensei...wants...to..to see us" Hinata stuttered out nervously bowing her head and pulled the ends of the sleeves of her baggy dark purple turtleneck down further over her small pale hands.

&

After he made sure the two of them had had their fill of burnt pancakes and orange juice Neji took his younger cousin's hand and lead her over to Kakashi's office before Hinata could faint again from Naruto choice of sleeping clothes or more to the point lack there of as he came out into the communal area stumbling like a drunk mumbling about ramen with only orange pants on and a weird hat on.

"Kakashi-sensei you wanted to see us" he asked knocking on the open door.

"Ah...Hinata-chan" Kakashi exclaimed excitedly "...and Neji-kun I've been over you're medical and psych reports with Kurenai and we believe both of you should be able to attend normal school" he continued as he handed them their documents lazily leafing through an orange covered book.

"Is that all?" Neji questioned, furrowing his brow not liking the tone the silver haired instructor used when greeting Hinata.

"Ahh yes..." he said smiling from behind his mask "oh and one other thing you start today so you better get moving you two...bye Hinata-chan" he said waving to her like a child, it was honestly making Neji feel a little quessy and it wasn't because of Deidara's lack of cooking skills.

"Yeah come on Hinata-sama lets get ready wouldn't want to be late now would we?" Neji told her literally pulling her along trying to get away from the creepy man.

Back in the common room he caught a glimpsed of what looked like Shikamaru talking with Sasuke in hurried whispers.

Carefully Neji looked over the documents Kakashi had given them amongst them was a schedule and map of the school. He was a little irritated that he'd been enrolled not only without his knowledge but also into the same year as Hinata-sama even though he was a year older 'what...a fucking...condescending bastard' he thought rubbing his temples yet again...maybe he should have stayed with Miyamoto-san after all.


End file.
